How to Obtain a Slovak Birth Certificate for a Child Born Abroad?

ANSWER:

You state that both you and your husband are Slovak citizens and that your son was born in England.

According to § 4, paragraph 1 of the Citizenship Act, “If both parents are citizens of the Slovak Republic according to § 2 or become citizens of the Slovak Republic according to § 3, their minor children also acquire Slovak citizenship; if only one parent is alive, the child follows the citizenship of that parent.” According to § 5, paragraph 1 (a) of this law, “A child acquires Slovak citizenship by birth if at least one of the parents is a citizen of the Slovak Republic.”

Given the above, we believe that your son acquired Slovak citizenship by birth, regardless of the country of birth and regardless of holding British citizenship.

Slovak Birth Certificate

As the mother of the child, you can request your son’s Slovak birth certificate. The application for the Slovak birth certificate should be submitted at the registry office according to your permanent residence or the father’s residence. Along with the application, you will need to provide, among other things, an apostilled and officially translated English birth certificate, or a certified copy of it, a copy of your marriage certificate, and the parents’ identification cards. If the identification card of at least one parent was issued before the child’s birth, it is not necessary to submit the certificate of your son’s Slovak citizenship. This certificate is issued by the District Office Bratislava I.

The registry office will send the application for the Slovak birth certificate to the Special Registry at the Ministry of the Interior of the Slovak Republic, which will then issue the Slovak birth certificate for your child.

Certificate of Citizenship of the Child

If the identification card of at least one parent was issued before the child’s birth, it is not necessary to submit the certificate of your son’s citizenship. If you do not have this certificate, it is required. To obtain the certificate of your son’s citizenship, you will need to submit the following documents to the District Office Bratislava I:

• A completed and signed application (for determining the Slovak citizenship and issuing a certificate of Slovak citizenship), with contact details (email and/or phone number)

• The child’s birth certificate with apostille and official translation into Slovak (original or certified copy)

• A copy of the birth certificate of the parent who is a Slovak citizen

• A valid identity document (ID card/passport) of the parent submitting the application (in case of a written submission, a photocopy is sufficient) and a photocopy of the identity document of the other parent

• A photocopy of the child’s passport if one has been issued

• A declaration of acquiring the citizenship of another country (in your case, British citizenship). This declaration must include information about how and when the child acquired British citizenship and must be signed and officially verified by the parents

• A confirmation of payment of the administrative fee of 10 EUR (can be paid, for example, via the eKolok web application, also called Virtual Kiosk, available on the website https://m.ekolky.gov.sk. After registration, you can purchase a confirmation of payment for the administrative fee (eKolok) for selected services by credit card / code 637 – the kolok is then printed and attached to the application).

If the child has a British passport, they have British citizenship. According to information from the relevant district office, British citizenship is not automatically acquired just by being born in the UK. There are two ways to acquire British citizenship: 1) if one of the parents is a British national, or 2) by registration if one of the parents has paid taxes in the UK for at least 5 years (based on the parents’ tax documents).

If the application with the documents is submitted in paper form, the office may send the issued certificate together with the original birth certificate of the child by registered mail to the applicant’s address (as listed on the identity card/registered in the Population Register of the Slovak Republic). All required information regarding the person whose citizenship is to be certified must be completed on the application; for example, the fields “Last residence address in Slovakia” or “US Citizenship (method and date of acquisition)” – if the child has never resided in Slovakia/does not have US citizenship – you should write “none.”

The application for issuing a certificate of Slovak citizenship can be submitted personally or by another person (with authorization) at the Client Center of the District Office in Bratislava – the certificate is usually issued immediately (if the applicant has all the necessary documents). The application can also be submitted at the relevant consular office abroad.

Submitting an Application During a State of Emergency

During the state of emergency declared in Slovakia (Government Resolution No. 693 of October 28, 2020), the Bratislava District Office may accept the application for issuing a certificate of Slovak citizenship in paper form – by post or in electronic form.

If the application is submitted electronically without authorization, it must be supplemented in paper form within three working days.

Ways to Acquire UK Citizenship

The British Embassy in Slovakia informed us that children born in the UK do not automatically acquire British citizenship. It depends on several factors.

ANSWER:

Recommendation:

Basic information about the child’s father should be included in the birth record, and we assume that it will also appear on the birth certificate.

Additionally, provide an affidavit from the child’s mother with a notarized signature, stating that she is not in contact with the child’s father and therefore cannot present his identity document. The father’s residence should also be stated. (source: Ministry of the Interior)

ANSWER:

Hello,

We recommend that you fill in all the basic details about the father that you know in the birth record. If some of the information is unknown, it will be necessary to provide a sworn affidavit with a notarized signature stating that you are unaware of the specific information, such as an affidavit confirming that you are not in contact with the father of the child or an affidavit stating that you do not know the father’s residence.

If necessary, please do not hesitate to contact us and write to office@akmv.sk.

ANSWER:

In order to issue a passport for your children, you will need a Slovak birth certificate. To obtain this, you will also need a certificate of Slovak citizenship (which confirms that the child is a Slovak citizen since they were born abroad).

Obtaining the certificate of citizenship usually takes a few days, and then processing the child’s birth certificate typically takes around 1.5 months in practice (the legal deadline is 90 days). We are not aware of any way to shorten this period.

We would be happy to provide our legal services – we can arrange the certificate of Slovak citizenship (required for the subsequent issuance of the birth certificate) and the Slovak birth certificate without your presence.

Feel free to contact us at office@akmv.sk or by phone at +421 915 046 749.

ANSWER:

We are happy to provide you with our legal services – we can obtain the certificate of Slovak citizenship (which is required for the subsequent issuance of the birth certificate) and the Slovak birth certificate without your presence.

You can then personally apply for the passport (e.g., at the Slovak embassy or in Slovakia at the Department of Documents). The child needs to be present for the passport photo.

To obtain the Slovak birth certificate, the first step is to acquire the certificate of Slovak citizenship for the child. This is sometimes issued immediately, but the legal timeframe is 30 days. Once you have the certificate, you can apply for the Slovak birth certificate.

For this, you will need the following documents:

• The child’s birth certificate (if the child was born in a non-EU country, it must have an apostille / super legalization) with an official translation into Slovak. We recommend making a notarized copy in Slovakia, as the original will not be returned by the registry office.

• Identity documents of the parents (ID cards, passports) – copies

• The child’s identity document – copy

• Parents’ birth certificates – copies with translations (the mother must provide all available information about the father of the child; if some information is missing, she must provide a sworn statement with a notarized signature explaining the missing details)

• Parents’ marriage certificate (if married) (if divorced, then the divorce decree; if widowed, death certificates)

• If the parents are not married, a translated declaration of paternity (an official document issued in the country of the child’s birth). If this is not issued, we recommend attaching a sworn statement from the parents confirming that they are unmarried.

If you do not have some of the documents, we can replace them with sworn statements.

The legal deadline for issuing the Slovak birth certificate is 90 days, but based on our experience, it currently takes about 1.5 months.

If you are interested, please do not hesitate to contact us at office@akmv.sk or by phone at +421 915 046 749.

ANSWER:

The parent must request the birth certificate at the Special Registry Office of the Ministry of Interior of the Slovak Republic, located in Bratislava. Please note that the application is not submitted directly to the Special Registry Office, but through:

• The diplomatic mission of the Slovak Republic in the relevant country

• The registry office where the citizen has permanent residence

• The registry office where the citizen last had permanent residence

• Any registry office if the citizen has never had permanent residence in Slovakia

The following documents must be submitted with the application:

• The birth certificate of the child born abroad, which must be translated into Slovak by a court interpreter. Some diplomatic missions also require apostille – verification of the signature and seal of a public document for use abroad.

• Marriage certificate (if the parents are married)

• ID card or passport of the parents

• Birth certificates of the parents

The Special Registry Office has a legal deadline of three months to issue the birth certificate. If this period is extended, the registry office is obliged to inform you. However, diplomatic missions are not legally bound by a deadline, which may delay the processing of your request.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at the email address recepcia@akmv.sk or by phone at +421 915 046 749.

Hello,

Thank you for your message.

In general, a certificate of citizenship is valid for six months from the date of issue.

From your message, we can deduce that the certificate you have is older and therefore no longer valid.

Therefore, you need to reapply for its issuance and then you can apply for a Slovak birth certificate.

Thank you and have a nice day.